NYS Music 20​18

Tag: Girl Blue

  • Popovic’s ‘Stormy Monday’ Blues Night at The Cohoes Music Hall

    It was a “Stormy Monday” for the blues inside the prestigious Cohoes Music Hall on April 16. The heavy rain didn’t put a damper on the blues fans that had stepped inside the music hall on a Monday evening to escape from the everyday stresses of daily life for a worry-free, entertaining evening of music from both Girl Blue and Serbian-Blues guitarist and vocalist, Ana Popovic.

    Popovic

    Almost a full year since her last performance at the music hall, this time around, Popovic pulled out all of the stops as she continued to dazzle the audience with her electrifying guitar solos, captivating vocals, and a stunning cast of performers within her five piece ensemble that had joined her for her tour to promote her new three disk album Trilogy.

    Popovic’s rhythm and horn ensemble were tight and in full swing throughout the entire evening. Her rhythm section begun the evening with an instrumental of their own rendition of “Ana’s Shuffle” from the album Can You Stand The Heat. They continued to jam along to the tune before Popovic, dressed in the similar red tank top, jeans, and heels that was previously worn at last year’s concert, joined the band on stage to play some solos on her guitar before moving on to perform a series of her songs from Trilogy.

    “It’s great to be back!” called out Popovic to the audience as she had begun her song, “Can You Stand the Heat”, from her previous album. Song after song, Popovic and her ensemble were outstanding, never outshining each other as they performed their own riffs, rhythms, and solos for each song. Popovic took the time to introduce the City of Cohoes to her full ensemble before performing “Train” from Trilogy: Disk #1 (Morning) to a happy audience that was excited to also hear Popovic’s drummer, Cedric Goodman, play some riffs on the drums that got them dancing and moving in their seats. “Long Road Down” brought her listeners back in time to the times of being on the Oregon Trail while focusing on Popovic’s extensive travels as she had continued on her journey to further pursue music as she had moved from her origins of Belgrade, Serbia, to Amsterdam, Holland, Memphis, Tennessee, and settled in Los Angeles, California where she has currently resided for the past two years.

    Popovic is able to smoothly transition well from performing lead to slide guitar as she continued to play slide on “If Tomorrow Was Today.” Following suit to her empowering gym-based workout song, “Show How Strong You Are,” each of her key players in her ensemble rose to the occasion and performed their energetic, emotionally-felt awakening solos, from the jazz-lead bass playing of the bassist, back to Popovic, to the drummer, and on towards the other performers to close out their main set.

    The blues wasn’t exactly going to end completely from Popovic and her ensemble. The band returned to the stage for their encore as they concluded the evening with a cover of Popovic’s “Mo’ Better Love,” and closing out the event with a cover of a song that she had discovered recently before she began recording Trilogy, “Fence Walk” from the Brooklyn, NY based band, Mandrill. Popovic’s interaction with both the crowd and with her own band members is both electric and entertaining to watch. Moving from side to side, Popovic joined in on the jam between her horn players, Jon Ramm (trombone) and Brad Walker (saxophone), on the right side of the stage as they had gathered around each other, creating a musical dialogue heard within their notes and soloing while closing out the evening. Popovic left the stage, leaving the remainder of the ensemble to continue to jam to the tune and close out the funky number on a high note that satisfied both the band and the audience.

    Albany based act, Girl Blue, featuring vocalist and guitarist, Arielle O’Keefe, opened up for Ana Popovic and her band. Playing a set of eight original songs, O’Keefe did a great job performing solo to her tunes that were mixed in with her own vocals being recorded on a loop. My first time hearing O’Keefe perform live, the sound of her voice reminded me of a mix between Norah Jones, Regina Spector, Alanis Morrisette, and Katy Perry, as she had sung her own unique, original tunes that related back to teenage and early adult moments of angst, drinking, and other fun, significant moments within her life.

  • Proctors Hosts Beatles Themed Capital Records Live! at GE Theatre

    It was the perfect duo – a collection of the area’s best musicians and the iconic catalog of music from The Beatles –  together at Proctors for Capital Records Live! at the GE Theatre on Friday, March 23.

    Let’s Be Leonard, Wild Adriatic, the Bryan Brundige Collective, Girl Blue, Clear Mind and Eastbound Jesus each played songs from The Beatles (the White Album) and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Each had liberty to perform its own renditions of songs from both albums. Some tried to capture the song as people remember them, while others added a unique spin to a classic track.

    Capital Records Live

    Highlights from Capital Records Live! included Bryan Brundige Collective’s rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” Girl Blue welcoming the crowd to sing along to “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and the gratitude expressed by the audience as Clear Mind introduced a rap spin to the 50-year-old collection of songs.

    The Rochmon Record Club provided Beatles trivia and history with a video presentation. There were moments when members of each band would stop setting up their gear to read along on the large screen behind the stage as everyone learned more about The Fab Four.

    This article was originally published by The Spot 518. is property of Spotlight Newspapers in Albany, N.Y., and appears as a special to NYSmusic. TheSpot518 and NYSmusic work in partnership to provide readers with in-depth coverage on the local music scene in the Capital District and New York state, respectively. For more, visit TheSpot518.com.

  • Arielle O’Keefe, Known as Girl Blue, is in Control of Her Own Musical Destiny

    Arielle O’Keefe walks into The Hollow Bar + Kitchen with a guitar case in her hand and only blues on her mind.

    Girl Blue
    photo by Shannon Straney

    She just finished a prior engagement that left her unfulfilled. The audience wasn’t familiar with her. Her music was background noise to their conversations about other things. She stepped onto the stage and dutifully set herself up for her solo act, opening for Wurliday, her name is on the inside jacket of its debut album. She knew she was coming into her own community. She stepped to the mic and apologized in advance. She was going to spend the next hour playing music the way she wanted to. She had nothing to hide.

    “I’m more comfortable with the solos because that’s where I come from,” said O’Keefe. She nearly two years removed from being known as the local Spotify phenomenon with 200,000 listens in a day. The following year was seemingly hers, gracing newspaper covers, touring across the country, a CD release and a successful collab with Wurliday kept her name circulating. It’s November, and she just released a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” on YouTube. It’s a video of her sitting in the woods at night performing what appears to be a Wiccan ceremony. By appearance, it’s her, alone, doing her own thing. It’s fitting. That’s how she likes to control her career.

    Girl Blue
    photo by Shannon Straney

    “I like to be able to tell stories, basically,” she said. ”For me, at this level, it’s just easier for me to do when it’s just me. And, the music I love, if someone can just get up there with a guitar or a piano and make me feel something like that, that’s very meaningful to me. That’s more meaningful to me than seeing a full band that jams out all night. Which I love, but I’ve come from hearing singers and songwriters, hearing songs. I want to hear the song.”

    The Hollow crowd treats the diminutive O’Keefe “pretty tall” as she continues to play a stripped down, bluesy variation of her songs. They stand facing the stage, soaking it in.

    “I Am Not a Star”

    Her 2016 Just Pretend Records release of “I Am Not a Star” was her first collaboration effort with a band. It was the first time she trusted her songs, to which she said she’s protective of, with anyone else. She could do that with the help of longtime friends Jimi Woodul and Dan DeKalb of Dark Honey. The three have been friends ever since meeting in Dallas, where they lived before “life happened” and brought them together again in New York a few years ago.

    DeKalb and Woodul were raised in upstate New York and O’Keefe was raised on Long Island. Coincidentally, the three moved to Dallas and during shows. They became really good friends.

    O’Keefe moved to New York City to pursue her music career. The boys moved to Albany, and she would go up to visit. Before long, Albany started feeling like home.

    “I just realized, after four times of visiting, that everytime I went up to Albany, all my stress was gone,” she said. She said she would dread going back to the city, “it’s an overwhelming place, and I never found community.” When she decided to move, she found an apartment, quickly signed the lease, and moved in with little else than her clothing in her guitar case.

    It was during this period she wrote “I Am Not a Star.” Though the song initially sounds like an anthem for strength, O’Keefe said it was a conversation with herself. She had uprooted herself, and worried about taking a wrong step in her career. “I Am Not a Star,” was a means to psych herself up and dispel those worries. A new career path was taking shape.

    “Spotify”

    Spotify placed “Fire Under Water” No. 7 on its New Music Friday playlist in late 2016. On a playlist that boasts anywhere between 50 to 80 songs, she was at a premium location for exposure. In one day, she received 200,000 plays. By the end of the week, her track was played a million times. Record labels took noticed and approached her. There was a push to have her sign a deal. She said no.

    Girl Blue
    photo by Shannon Straney

    “I want to have control and have the rights over what I do,” she said. “[There were pushes made to sign right away] but that’s not really who I am. … I’m not really the type to go and grab a major label deal. I don’t know. I’m just not green anymore with the industry stuff.

    In 2012, she had auditioned for Season 2 of “The Voice.” The production had taken on 120 musicians. She was sequestered into a California hotel for a month and a half before the show aired. However, teams were filled before all of the musicians auditioned, and she never appeared on television. Shortly afterwards, she was approached by Nigel Lythgoe Productions for a television project. She signed a contract without knowing the premise of the show. It would lead to her appearance on “Opening Act” in which she appeared on its first show, in which she was the opening act for Rod Stewart in front of a Caesars Palace crowd in Las Vegas.

    “That whole attitude to make it nowadays, it’s just so not what people think it is,” she said. She has nothing ill to say about the television or music industry, only that she felt that in her television moment she was not true to herself. The vigorous pace and push to get something on presentable on television pulled her in many directions. “It’s so not what it’s presented to be. I got to see behind the curtain just enough to where it became unappealing to me. I don’t know, man. Anything that’s just going to shoot you up there, I don’t know. It seems too good to be true.”

    O’Keefe is less concerned about whether she took the wrong step in moving away from New York City. Her self-described itch to move every year-and-a-half has been quelled. The Albany music scene has allowed her room to explore herself, and the community she couldn’t find in Gotham. The past few years have confirmed that a music career is not defined by where one lives. Instead of trying to wedge herself into the industry machine, she’s trying to “have the plan fit me a little better.” She is presently working on a new album with the help from AntiFragile Music out of New York City. She’s also started an account on Patreon, a membership platform that connects her with fans through subscriptions. It gives her the chance to share her music intimately with fans instead of throwing herself out into the empty ethos of the internet. Her next track “Lolita” is to be released Friday, March 30. Her latest work, she said, is delving deeper into herself. It will be the most vulnerable she has been with her audience, and she’s excited.

    She’s also to play in Capital Records Live at Proctors on Friday, March 23 before a gig at another iconic venue, Caffè Lena in Saratoga Springs next month.

    “I want to build it slowly and build something that’s going to last,” she said. “I’ve been doing this since I was young. I’m a young woman, so especially a lot of people want to come in and tell me what they think that I am. At this point in my life, I’m just not really interested. I understand the idea of branding, but I kinda know who I am at this point. I’m trying to build a business.”

  • Proctors announces new concert series, Capital Records Live 

    With a little help from world class musicians across the region, Proctors and WAIX 106.1 are teaming up to present a new concert series highlighting classic albums performed by local artists. Capital Records Live will debut on Friday, March 23 at 7:30pm in the GE Theatre at Proctors.

    Six bands from the greater Capital District will perform selections from The Beatles (The White Album) and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The lineup includes Bryan Brundige Collective, Clear Mind, Eastbound Jesus, Girl Blue, Let’s Be Leonard and Wild Adriatic, who will come together on stage to celebrate the work of the Fab Four. Additionally, Beatles trivia will be hosted by Chuck Vosganian of Rochmon Record Club.

    Attendees will experience distinct renditions of The Beatles’ most recognizable tracks. Sal Prizio, program coordinator at Proctors, explains “With CRL, our mission is to introduce music fans in this market, each year, to the abundance of great local music.” Tickets are on sale now at Proctors box office or online.

Built in Breakdance